Carolina returns to the Sweet 16 for an unprecedented 30th time since 1975 and as a No. 8 seed for the third time when the Tar Heels face No. 4 seed UCLA in the East Region semifinals on Friday, March 25. The Sweet 16 matchup should tip at approximately 9:30 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia (CBS). Should Carolina beat UCLA, the Tar Heels would play the winner of Friday’s first semifinal between No. 3 seed Purdue and No. 15 Saint Peter’s on Sunday, March 27.
About UNC
- No. 8 Carolina advanced to the Sweet 16 by defeating No. 9 seed Marquette, 95-63, and No. 1 seed Baylor, 93-86, in overtime in Fort Worth, Texas.
- Baylor overcame a 25-point UNC lead over the final 10 minutes of regulation, but the Tar Heels regrouped and held the defending national champions to 1 of 11 field goals and outscored the Bears, 13-6 in the extra period for the 93-86 victory.
- RJ Davis scored a career-high 30 points and Brady Manek had 26 to lead Carolina, which also got a season-high nine points from freshman Dontrez Styles.
- Manek scored a season-high 28 and Caleb Love tied the UNC record for three-pointers in an NCAA Tournament game (six, all in the first half) in the Tar Heels’ 95-63 first round win over Marquette.
- The win over Baylor was the first time UNC eliminated the defending champion in the NCAA Tournament.
- It was the third time Carolina beat a No. 1 seed as the eighth seed (also Oklahoma in 1990 and Stanford in 2000).
- Carolina is 26-9 overall. This is Carolina’s 62nd season with 20 or more wins and its
NCAA-record 39th with at least 25.
- Carolina enters the Sweet 16 game vs. UCLA No. 20 in KenPom’s overall rankings.
- Carolina is a No. 8 seed for the second year in a row and the fifth time overall (1990, 2000, 2013, 2021, 2022).
- The Tar Heels are 9-4 as an eight seed, including 4-1 in the first round, 3-1 in the second round and 1-1 in the Sweet 16.
- Carolina is 14-6 in five different arenas in Philadelphia, including 2-0 in the Wells Fargo Center.
- Armando Bacot leads Carolina in scoring (16.4), rebounding (12.5), field goal percentage (.588) and blocks (60). He also led UNC in those categories last season. No Tar Heel has ever led in those four categories in consecutive seasons and no other Tar Heel has ever reached all four of those numbers in one season.
- He has set UNC single-season records for double-doubles (27) and games with 10 or more rebounds (28).
- Brady Manek, a 6-9 sharp-shooting power forward, has scored 20 or more points in five of the last six games, including his two highest scoring games as a Tar Heel with 28 against Marquette in the first round of the NCAA Tournament and 26 in round two against Baylor.
- Manek has scored 20 or more 10 times as a Tar Heel and has scored in double figures 102 times in five seasons of college basketball.
- Carolina has three players with 50 or more threes this season for the just the fourth time in history. Brady Manek leads with 85, Caleb Love has 81 and RJ Davis 63.
- Sophomores RJ Davis and Caleb Love have started every game together in the backcourt this season except Senior Night, and are both averaging more than 33 minutes per game.
- Davis and Love have combined for 28.8 points and 7.4 assists per game. A year ago as freshmen, they combined for 18.9 points and 5.5 assists.
- Leaky Black is one of five Tar Heels to amass 500 career points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists, 100 steals and 50 blocks.
- Black was third in voting for ACC Defensive Player of the Year and earned his first award for the league’s All-Defensive team.
- North Carolina’s NCAA tournament odds are listed at +3000 ahead of Friday’s game against UCLA. They enter the matchup as 2.5-point underdogs against the Bruins.
About UCLA
- UCLA’s 27 wins this season are the most by a Bruins’ team since finishing 31-5 in 2016-17.
- UCLA has advanced to the Sweet 16 for the fifth time in nine seasons (2014, 2015, 2017, 2021 and 2022).
- This marks the Bruins’ 22nd trip to the Sweet 16 since the tournament field expanded to 32 teams in 1975.
- The Bruins are seeking their second consecutive trip to the Elite Eight with a win against North Carolina on Friday.
- UCLA has limited the opposition to 64.2 points per game this season, which ranks No. 1 in the Pac-12.
- UCLA has advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the 51st time in program history (second consecutive year).
- The Bruins will enter Friday’s contest having won seven of their last eight games (and 10 of their last 12).
- The Bruins had two six-game winning streaks during the season and lost in back-to-back games just once.
- UCLA entered the week ranking No. 2, nationally, in fewest turnovers per game (9.0, trailing Wisconsin’s 8.7 per game).
- Eleven of UCLA’s 15 players were either born-and-raised in Southern California or attended high school in the area.
- Bruins’ guard Johnny Juzang has averaged a team-best 15.7 points per game and ranks No. 3 in the Pac-12 in scoring (through Sunday, March 20). He has scored in double figures in 24 of 29 games played.
- Juzang has shot 43.4 percent from the field, 35.5 percent from 3-point range and 83.1 percent at the free throw line. He secured first-team All-Pac-12 honors at the conclusion of the regular season and is among 15 players named to the national ballot for this season’s John R. Wooden Award (presented to the nation’s top player by the Los Angeles Athletic Club).
- Tyger Campbell has secured first-team All-Pac-12 honors for the second straight season. He is UCLA’s first player to earn first-team all-league acclaim in back-to-back years since Arron Afflalo (2006, 2007). Through games played on Sunday,
March 20, Campbell ranked No. 6 in the nation in assist-turnover ratio (3.3) and No. 4 in the Pac-12 in assists per game (4.2).
- UCLA’s Jaime Jaquez Jr. has played in 96 of UCLA’s 97 games since the start of the 2019-20 season. A first-team All-Pac-12 selection, Jaquez Jr. has averaged 14.0 points and 5.7 rebounds in 33 games. Over the past five contests, he has averaged 18.0 points, 7.2 rebounds and 3.0 assists.
- Under third-year head coach Mick Cronin, the Bruins have gone 22-11 in games decided by five points or fewer (includes all overtime games, regardless of score margin). This season, the Bruins have posted a 3-4 record in such situations.
- Over the past two seasons (2020-21 and 2021-22), UCLA has gone 39-4 when limiting the opposition to 70 or fewer points (19-3 last season, 20-1 this year). Coach Cronin has led the Bruins to a 57-5 record when limiting the opposition to
70 or fewer points.
UNC vs UCLA
- Carolina is 10-3 against the Bruins, including wins in each of the last five games over the past 22 seasons and nine of 10.
- Carolina has the highest winning percentage (.769) against UCLA of any team that has played the Bruins 10 or more times.
- UCLA’s last win over UNC was in 2000 in Chapel Hill.
- The Tar Heels are 1-1 against UCLA in the NCAA Tournament. In 1968, the Bruins defeated the Tar Heels, 78-55, in the national championship game in the Los Angeles Sports Arena. Lew Alcindor had 34 points and 16 rebounds and Lucius Allen had 11 points to lead UCLA, which overcame 26 turnovers. Larry Miller (14) and Charlie Scott (12) led UNC, which also committed 23 turnovers.
- In 1989, second-seed Carolina beat the No. 7 Bruins, 88-81, in Atlanta in the second round. Kevin Madden led five Tar Heels in double figures with 22 points and Steve Bucknall had 19 points and 11 assists. Senior Jeff Lebo, an assistant coach now for the Tar Heels, had a dozen points and four assists in his final collegiate victory. Freshman Hubert Davis did not score in five minutes.
- The teams played most recently on 12/21/2019 in Las Vegas, a 74-64 UNC win. Freshman Armando Bacot had a team-high 15 points and 12 rebounds, Carolina forced 22 turnovers and made 22 of 35 free throws in the victory.
Game Info
Time: 9:30 p.m. (ET)
TV: CBS (Ian Eagle, Jim Spanarkel, Jamie Erdahl)
Stream: NCAA.com
Radio: Tar Heel Sports Properties (Jones Angell, Eric Montross, Adam Lucas)
Per Release